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Usability Testing

The developers of any software product should aim to provide an effective and satisfying experience to the end-users. The product should allow its users to achieve their goals efficiently, within a certain frame of time and effort. How can we tell if an application will meet this goal with real-life users? Usability Testing is the right tool for answering this question.

During a usability test, participants are instructed to perform pre-planned tasks that represent different usage scenarios (use-cases). The participants’ interaction with the system is observed and recorded. Each trial is typically followed by an interview. The results are analyzed in order to identify the causes of each interaction problem.

Usability testing can be done on a paper prototype, a software prototype or an actual product.

Usability Testing allows you to:

	Evaluate the user-interface in various stages of the development cycle.
	Diagnose the overall usability of a system, or check specific issues.
	Test an existing application or choose between design alternatives during development.

Deliverables:

	Usability report - prioritized list of problems and suggestions for improvements. The report is based on an expert’s review or on a usability testing session with typical end-users.
	Video Cassette with the “usability highlights” captured in the test.

Design Process

Study and Analysis

Concept Design

Detailed Design

Graphic Design

Usability Testing